Modest Mouse have announced additional tour dates for September and October of this year, taking them to Bend, Boise, Missoula, Sioux Falls, St. Paul, Madison, Grand Rapids, Louisville, Columbus, Ithaca, Northampton, Portland, Providence, Sayreville, and Port Chester.

Pre-sales begin Wednesday, May 10th at 10am local time. The pre-sale password is "strangers".

Modest Mouse has announced another tour with Brand New. Both bands previously toured together in 2014.

The press release states that there will be "no opening acts and both bands performing full headlining sets." The presale starts today, and then goes on sale to the public this coming Friday at noon local time.

Usually I try to avoid news posts for single tour dates, but with news having been really slow as of late, and the tour finally ending recently, I think the first date of 2016 needs an announcement.

Modest Mouse has been added to the lineup of the Byron Bay Bluesfest taking place at the Tyagarah Tea Farm in New South Wales, AU. Their performance is scheduled for Sunday, March 27th.

Normally I doubt the band would travel that distance and not play other shows, so I would expect additional Australian dates to be added at some point. This will be Modest Mouse's first show in Australia since 2011.

With little warning yesterday, it was announced that Modest Mouse would be performing on Jimmy Kimmel Live that night. The performance was in fact recorded the day before, where the band played a set of five songs. Only the performance of "The Ground Walks, with Time in a Box" was broadcast last night.

Watch the band perform below. They are now on their way to South Africa, for the first shows they will have played in that country. The tour then continues on May 23rd in the States, where Modest Mouse will headline the Sasquatch Music Festival.

"Sleepwalking" is based on a Santo & Johnny's 1959 hit "Sleep Walk", with original lyrics then added by Modest Mouse. Watch the performance below (thanks to Norman McKenney), along with the Santo & Johnny original.

CBS also broadcast an interview with Isaac that had been filmed earlier at one of the Webster Hall performances. Anthony Mason spoke to Isaac shortly about the past 8 years, Eric Judy, and becoming popular.

The band will mark this event by performing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon later today, before closing out the rest of the week with two further shows in New York. Isaac will also be on SiriusXMU today between 5 and 7pm ET with Jenny Eliscu.

Update, 3/3 9:27 AM PST: Overnight the band's website has now also added a date for June 30th in Berlin, DE. No ticketing information though.

It was performed earlier today on SiriusXMU, now Modest Mouse have uploaded a streaming version of the new track and last song on the album, "Of Course We Know." Stream the new track at the bottom of this post.

This is presumed to be the last song they will release before the album comes out in two weeks. The track is now also available to purchase from iTunes and other mp3 sites.

The band also expanded on their tour, adding more dates across the United States and the United Kingdom. See the full list below.

Lastly, Portland Monthly Mag has done a short piece on Tucker Martine, one of the producers on the new album. Martine has worked with R.E.M. and The Decemberists, and explains his role on the album is that of a "fixer," "helping front man Isaac Brock find his way out of the labyrinth created by years of recording and reconnect with the rawness of some of the band's demos."

There's also a new rumoured date on April 17 in Ithaca, NY, but that has yet to be confirmed. Same goes for the Firefly Festival in Dover, DE, in June. June is looking like a strange month as there's already a single European date in Denmark there...

The bad news is, for unexplained reasons, the release date has been pushed back two weeks to March 17. This new release date will coincide with the band performing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

The first thing to note here, unless it's been retitled, is that Poison The Well appears to be the only song performed live from the past few years that does not appear to be on the album. This track however has not been performed since late 2012 though.

Pistol also appears to have a new title that seems to reference American spree killer Andrew Cunanan. However it's been pointed out that he died in 1997, not 1996, so that may be a typo.

The fan titled track Give It Enough may still be on the album, but under its official title. Time will tell.

Lastly, the press release also details a lot of the people that worked on the album, revealing that James Mercer is once again returning to perform back up vocals. On which tracks it's not made clear. Dann Gallucci is also making a return appearance. As is Ben Massaralla (who performed some percussion on The Moon And Antarctica), which was previously touched on back in 2013. The production team is also revealed to be Isaac Brock, Andrew Weiss, Tucker Martine, Clay Jones, and Brian Deck.

The 15 new, original songs of Strangers To Ourselves were recorded at Ice Cream Party in Portland, Oregon a recording studio owned and operated by Isaac Brock. Originally leased in mid 2012 and purchased in late 2012, Ice Cream Party began as a makeshift studio, with mattresses against the walls to insulate sound, and was slowly transformed into a professional workspace where the band finished mixing the album in early 2015. Strangers To Ourselves was produced by Isaac Brock with additional production by Andrew Weiss, Tucker Martine, Clay Jones, and Brian Deck. The album features founding drummer Jeremiah Green, and a wide cast of musical collaborators, including James Mercer, who returns to sing back-up vocals throughout the album, Tom Peloso, Jim Fairchild (Grandaddy), Dann Gallucci (The Cold War Kids), Russell Higbee (formerly of Man Man), Ben Massaralla (Red Red Meat), Lisa Molinaro (Talkdemonic), Davey Brozowski (The Catheters), and more.

In what may be a similar pattern to what happened with Coyotes, it has been pointed out that multiple sites selling the digital copy of Strangers to Ourselves are now listing the track time for Track 14 as 4:24 along with a release date of February 3rd.

Based on the track time this could be Sugar Boats, Pistol, or a track we have yet to hear.

The new album was also discussed briefly on NPR's All Songs Considered this past week, with host Robin Hilton mentioning that he's heard the entire album, called it "classic Modest Mouse", and that you wouldn't believe 8 years has past. Listen to the discussion at around the 6 min mark here.

Also, if you don't follow us on Facebook or Twitter, and live in the area of Louisville, KY, the band has been added to Forecastle Festival. That puts a good 4.5 months between the only know tour dates at the moment. The band usually likes to do some warm up dates around festivals, so there's lots of space here for dates, should the band be doing the festival circuit this summer. The band is also listed as an act on a leaked lineup for Firefly Music Festival in Dover, DE (June 18 - 21), but that has yet to be confirmed.

Now we finally have news on their first performance for 2015. The band will be headlining the Gasparilla Music Festival on March 7th in Tampa, FL. Just a few days after the release of the album. Tickets for the festival are already on sale. This will also be the band's first performance in Tampa in 11 years.

Hopefully this is just the first of tour dates to be announced. Modest Mouse usually likes to do a few warm up dates before a festival.

It's also been pointed out by @horriblezone, that on Amazon.com's page for the digital album, track 7 has been updated to include the length of 3:30 (this is also showing on iTunes), and an availability date of January 20th. This could potentially be the next single and its release date. It is a Tuesday, the optimal time to release things in the music world. Rumour for now, but we'll be keeping an eye on it.

Modest Mouse will be making a return to Mexico this September, having just been added to the lineup of the Hellow Festival in Monterrey.

An alternative poster is showing them as opening for Queens Of The Stone Age on Friday, September 19. This detail of the lineup is not yet mentioned on the festival website, so be careful using this information to buy single tickets.

This will be the band's third appearance in Mexico. Thanks to Kev C. for bringing this to our attention.

UPDATE: The Friday, September 19 poster does appear on the festival's Twitter feed.

Modest Mouse will return to Portland in September to headline Sunday night of the Project Pabst festival on the 28th. Tickets are already on sale for $25 a day. The festival takes place from the 26th to 28th.

Other artists for the Sunday include GZA, Lord Huron, Shabazz Places, The Thermals, Deep Vally, Speedy Ortiz and Grandparents.

Sorry, I've been away on Vacation for the past month, so the site has been a bit behind on a few recently added dates.

Today it was announced that Modest Mouse will be replacing Death Cab For Cutie at Austin's Fun Fun Fun Fest being held in November. Modest Mouse will be performing on November 8. Tickets are already on sale.

The other dates that have been added for early August include shows in the states of NY, CT and NJ.

Modest Mouse have filled the gaps between their few July and August dates with some new US and Canadian dates. This will be the first time Modest Mouse has toured this part of Canada (except mainly Ontario) since 2007.

Modest Mouse announced their first shows of 2014 this morning, both coming up this May.

The first, they will be headlining the Shaky Knees Music Fest in Atlanta, GA, along with The National, and an as of yet unknown third group. Then they will be performing at the Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores, AL.

The performance times for both festivals have yet to be confirmed, so don't buy single day tickets based on the dates listed on their sites yet.

Lastly, mousemouse.com has gone through a slight overhaul, removing everything except for the upcoming show information.

Spin Magazine is reporting that Modest Mouse will be performing a free show next week as part of the annual Vans US Open Of Surfing.

The band will be playing on July 26 in Huntington Beach, CA, with support from Matt Costa.

We're not 100% sure where the actual concert will be taking place as the event's website has yet to announce the acts, or if there will be some kind of ticketing system. It just lists "Concert Stage", which we presume will be on the beach. We'll post updates as we hear them, but as the show is free, if you're in the area you might want to keep a close eye on it, if it's first come first served.

Having just cancelled their European tour last week to work on their new album, Modest Mouse's website has been update to include two new dates for what would have been the month after that tour ended.

The band will be heading to Malaysia for the first time, to perform at the Good Vibes Festival in Kuala Lumpur on August 17, before heading back State side where a new date has been added before what was their only remaining tour date left in Reno on August 24. The Reno date also provided a definite date for the First City Festival. The band now seems locked to be performing on the second night of that one, on August 25.

The timing of these dates could be positive, with the band perhaps finishing up recording before August and then hitting the road while the album is being mastered, for an early 2014 release.

It's official: Modest Mouse has cancelled their upcoming European tour consisting of 29 dates. The official word from the band is that they are using this time to complete their new album, tentatively due out next year.

After much thought, we have decided to cancel our EU/UK tour to continue work on our forthcoming album. We do appreciate our fans and promise that we will make it up to you next year.

Refunds will be available at the point of purchase.

We look forward to sharing our new music with the world next year.

As of now, the only tour date still on is the First City Festival in Monterey, CA, on August 24, where they will be headlining with Passion Pit.

The homepage of modestmouse.com seems to have been replaced with an image of static. The rest of the old site is still there if you hit any of the old links. Could be an indication of a new site coming soon.

Something else that has come up today, but doesn't seem to have been confirmed yet; Rock City in Nottingham has posted this on their Facebook page:

Modest Mouse:
"After much thought, we have decided to cancel our EU/UK tour to continue work on our forthcoming album. We do appreciate our fans and promise that we will make it up to you next year.

Refunds will be available at the point of purchase.

We look forward to sharing our new music with the world next year."

So far they're the only one announcing this. With Europe only waking up in a few hours, we're hoping to start get official word from the other venues and festivals.

Modest Mouse performed the second stop of their short North American tour at the Coachella festival.

Marking it's second appearance in concert, was new track Be Brave and thanks to an earlier campaign to get the festival organizers to stream the festival, a higher quality version of the track has been recorded by Twitter user mylasdiralen. Catch the recording over on their website.

While it originally looked like Modest Mouse set was not going to be included in the list of acts Coachella would be streaming tonight, an 11th hour campaign organized by board member jplan74 seems to have changed the festival organizers minds.

Modest Mouse's set tonight will be streamed, just not live. The band's set will be shown on Channel 2 of the Coachella YouTube stream at 9pm Pacific Time tonight.

Modest Mouse performed their first show for 2013 in Oakland, California two nights ago. In case you missed the set list when we posted it that night, it was reported that two new songs were performed.

The titles for these two tracks have now been confirmed as Be Brave and Shit In Your Cut. Rough video of both songs has also made it's way onto YouTube and posted below. Interestingly, no other "new" material from the past two years was performed.

Eric Judy has still not surfaced, and despite not having any conflicting dates with The Shins, Joe Plummer also did not perform. Both positions, to our knowledge are still being filled in by Russell Higbee (formally of Man Man) and Modest Mouse drum tech Davey Brozowsky. Lisa Molinaro from Talkdemonic also played violin on some songs, as she has in the past year.

Tonight the band plays the main stage at Coachella. And while it was originally reported that the set might be streamed, it seems like Modest Mouse's set is one of the few that will not be. Should that change, I'm sure it will be updated here.

Be Brave

Shit In Your Cut

Thanks to TinyLaugh and McWeird007 for the set list updates and the names of the new songs.

We've been sitting on these dates for a while due to a lack of time to do updates, so hopefully you've all been paying attention. It's mostly the US dates that are sold out at this point.

Let's start with the band hitting the road in two days with their predominantly Californian dates leading up to and around the Coachella festival this coming weekend. It will be the band's first performance since July last year, and hopefully some insight into what they've been working on in the past year. Hopefully we'll see the return of Eric Judy, and with none of The Shins' tour dates conflicting with Modest Mouse's, maybe Joe Plummer will be back as well.

Secondly, in the past two weeks a lot of the gaps in the European tour have been filled in. Check the tour page for all the details. Club and festival dates have been added in Norway, Luxembourg, France, Germany (more) and the UK (more), bringing the total amount of performances so far to 36. Tickets appear to be on sale still for all of these and the only European show so far listed as sold out is Brighton.

Lastly, three of the shows in the UK have had their venues upgraded to larger venues, that's in Bristol, London and Leeds. Your original ticket is valid, just make sure you take note of the venue changes.

Although not yet officially announced, a string of UK dates has been popping up on websites this morning, with a few of the dates being confirmed by the venues.

It seems highly promising that in between all the European Festival madness coming our way this Spring, Modest Mouse has managed to close a lot of the gaps with eight non-festival dates scattered around the island. This is on top of the single Scottish Festival that has already been announced last month.

This will be the band's first time back in the United Kingdom in almost three years. Tickets should be on sale shortly.

Following on from last months news that Modest Mouse would be performing at Coachella, and the few European festival dates that started appearing on and off, the band's website today has been updated with a batch of club gigs between in the two Coachella dates in California and Arizona.

Also check out an updated list of Summer European festival dates that include new performances in Germany and Scotland.

UPDATE:The Pomona date seems to have been removed from Modest Mouse's site. We'll keep an eye on it to see if it was a mistake. The Pomona date is back up on their website, but the ticket link now seems invalid.

Right on the heels of the Coachella announcement last week, Modest Mouse has been added to the Best Kept Secret Festival happening in Hilvarenbeek in the Netherlands this coming June 23.

Tickets seem to have already been on sale for a bit, but Modest Mouse was only announced this morning, along with a few other bands. They're going to be playing on the Sunday, the last night of the festival, with headliners Portishead and Sigur Rós.

Hopefully this is an indication that the band is gearing up to perform the Spring festival circuit over the months between these two festivals.

UPDATE: No sooner than we'd posted this information, it was brought to our attention that Modest Mouse's own website has silently also listed a June 28 date for the Azkena Rock Festival in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, a few days after the Dutch festival.

The Coachella lineup was announced last night, and Modest Mouse is set to perform on the Friday for both weekends of the festival. That's April 12 and 19. They will be performing alongside Blur, The Stone Roses, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and more. This marks the band's first time ever performing at this festival.

Another interesting side note, is that Johnny Marr will also be performing on the same days, which could see him join the band on stage again. However they were in the same position in England a few years ago, where Marr was performing at the same festival with The Cribs and nothing came of it.

Either way, it's good to have some live dates on the horizon, maybe leading up to a more structured tour, or perhaps the hint that Modest Mouse will be doing the festival circuit this Spring/Summer. The band has not performed together since July last year.

Tickets go on sale this Tuesday. Watch the trailer for the festival below.

UPDATE: It's actually been pointed out that they made their debut at Coachella in 1999. Embarrassing for us! Thanks Kurt for pointing this out.

While the festival has not yet announced their lineup, Logan H has passed on an article to us, that leaks the supposed lineup.

If the lineup turns out to be true, the band will be down in Miami, FL on December 8 and 9. As with all festivals, at this point, we don't know which day they'll be performing on, or if there's the chance they'll be performing on both.

We'll continue to keep on eye on it, but seeing as how the UR1 Music Festival posted on their Facebook page yesterday, claiming the Kanye West part of the lineup is true, there's a good chance the lineup could turn out to be true. The festival's website doesn't make any mention of when they actually plan to announce the lineup.

Here's Luke's third and final review. He's been following the band on a string of east coast dates, but Pittsburgh has been the last one.

Once again he was able to speak to Isaac and managed to get a few snippets of info, mainly it sounds that the band is planning on lining up a few more festival dates later this year and some shows in Canada.

Modest Mouse played the third show of it's tour in Pittsburgh to another sold
out crowd.

Taking the stage at 9:00 PM, they opened with Gravity Rides everything.

Donning his banjo, Bury Me With It was played, much to the excitement of the
crowd.

Lampshades on Fire was played, with some in the crowd actually booing, giving
the band the middle finger, and screaming "fuck the new shit." Others were
grooving to the song and enjoying the "new shit." Isaac once again added a
bit of a jam to the bridge.

Next, The View was played, with an awesome extended jam towards the end that
I have yet to hear during this song.

Isaac picked up his banjo again, starting with a banjo riff while singing
"I used to be an old time nothing," among other lyrics. The band then opened
into Satin In a Coffin, with lots of the crowd starting to mosh and a few members
crowd-surfing.

Continuing with the banjo, King Rat was played, once again with a small, but
boisterous few expressing their displeasure.

Bassist Russell Higbee started into Dramamine, with the rest of the band following.
The extended version was played, with Isaac borrowing lyrics from Life Like
Weeds. Isaac eventually started screaming into his pickups, with the crowd
going bonkers.

Dashboard followed, with, once again, many in the crowd unhappy.

Ansel followed, with what was the sloppiest version I have heard thus far.
It appeared that Russell perhaps skipped a verse on the pump organ, leaving
the rest of the band fumbling to catch up. Isaac appeared a little angry, but
they eventually sorted it out and continued with the song.

Missed The Boat came next, with most of the crowd singing along again.

Shit Luck was next, with large amounts of head banging and moshing from nearly
everyone in the crowd.

Education followed, with a truly awesome jam at the end, which appeared to
fall on deaf ears. Isaac took a few power chords and turned them into a dancey,
raucous outro.

Next was Custom Concern, followed by Black Cadillacs. The band then took off
their instruments, and with not much of a crowd response, explained that "that's
it."

After an encore break, they returned with Poison The Well, which had yet to
be played this tour. The bridge seemed to be extended, with a heavy guitar
riff that sounded like it could be straight off of Lonesome Crowded West.

Fire It Up came next, with a large amount of the crowd singing along.

What followed was hands down, the coolest moment of the three shows I attended.
Tiny Cities Made of Ashes was played, with Modest Mouse showcasing what they
are all about. The band truly sounded in sync, allowing Isaac to go off on
his guitar, leading a brutal onslaught of magnificence. Tom Peloso was on the
upright bass, which I am a sucker for. It truly was a culmination of all that
the band is: music that makes you want to dance while simultaneously breaking
everything in sight. Isaac moved about the stage, literally hitting his guitar
with closed fists in a truly awesome rendition. Afterwards, Isaac joked with
the crowd, explaining one could make millions of dollars off of a "non-sexual,
sexual lubricant" that would eliminate the holes in his hand from playing guitar
so violently.

Dance Hall was next, with much of the crowd dancing along and chanting with
Isaac.

Ending the night was Bob Dylan's You Ain't Goin' Nowhere, with members of
the crowd booing once again.

Overall, this was a solid show. It appeared that the band was more in sync,
which led to some awesome improvisation. The crowd was pretty young, and there
were some truly annoying people that got in the way of the music. The fact
that people were booing new songs is just ridiculous: don't come to a show
if you don't want to hear new music, especially from a band that is in the
process of creating a new album. A fight broke out about five feet from me
because some drunk guy apparently groped some buzz-cut dick-head's girlfriend,
leading to a solid 10 minute altercation that was completely unnecessary. When
I was leaving the show, some guy was complaining to me how they played Shit
Luck with a "bunch of 22 year olds that don't deserve to play with Isaac."
I explained that Tom Peloso and Jeremiah Green were both present, who have
been playing with the band for quite some time. It was also a bit disappointing
to hear songs that had been played the previous two nights, with only Poison
the Well being an unplayed song.

Prior to the show, I was able to talk to Isaac for a few minutes, who agreed
to answer a few questions for me. I asked him how it was working with Big Boi,
and he explained "it was fun, we basically smoked a lotta weed with him in
the studio. He wasn't too involved, we were just testing the waters." I asked
if other than Firefly, there were any other shows he could share and he mentioned
"something in Toronto, or maybe Montreal." He was with Davey Brozowsky, the
drummer filling in, who said "I thought we weren't doing that anymore though."
At this point Isaac was moving into the gated off area, so I asked when we
could be expecting a new album. He explained "when we finish it," then grinned.
"Nah, we are working on it though." He moved into the gated area, wishing me
a good day. So, it would appear the time spent with Big Boi was more of a time
used getting inspired, and no news of a album release date.

This marks the end of my travels with the band, but shows at Orion Fest in
Atlantic City, Governors Ball in New York City, and a final date in Columbus
Ohio are still yet to be played, along with Firefly Festival in Delaware, later
this summer.

Thanks to Luke for taking the time to write up these posts and for doing his best to speak to members of the band to get some new info.

Modest Mouse finished it's two night stand at The 930 Club in Washington DC tonight
for another sold out crowd.

The band took the stage at 9:50, with frontman Isaac Brock wearing extremely
short purple shorts with rainbow sidings. Short shorts in full effect, 5'6
Isaac tore into The Whale Song resembling a playground bully; thrashing and
stomping as he struck blows with his guitar.

Moving into I Came As a Rat, Brock continued his assault, playing 3rd Planet
with nearly the entire crowd singing along, specifically "I got this thing
that I consider my only of heart of FUCKING PEOPLE OVER!"

Dashboard was played next, sounding a bit light on Tom's horn.

Isaac grabbed his Banjo, literally beating the living shit out of us with
King Rat. His shouts of "WELL!" were echoed throughout the crowd, with Tom's
horn finally coming through, meshing perfectly with Isaac's mumbling.

Rarely played Heart Cooks Brain followed, with Isaac using a music stand to
read the lyrics. He joked with the crowd about how he'd learnt the song in
a manner that ensured he would forget it every time he tried to play it.

Although a bit mellower (is that even possible?) than the night before, Tiny
Cities Made of Ashes brought about shuffling from most and full on dancing
from others, including myself.

A tighter, more in sync Ansel was played, with most fans bobbing along and
seemingly enjoying it.

Just when I was getting my bearings straight from the ass kicking delivered
by King Rat, Isaac shouted "I got one, two, three, four, five, six six six,"
throwing himself into an extremely jammed out version of Breakthrough. Screaming
into his pickups, Isaac made it known: He will beat you up and take your wallet,
then make you cry in front of your girlfriend.

Taking a turn for the slower, Bob Dylan's You Ain't Goin' Nowhere was covered
again, with a bit of jamming towards the end.

Not wanting to stay slow for too long, Parting of the Sensory built to a deafening
crescendo, with a violent mosh pit erupting as Isaac chanted about our eventual
return to mere carbon.

Good News For People Who Love Bad News was showcased next, with Black Cadillacs,
World at Large, and The View being played, respectively. The View was hands
down my favorite performance of the night, with Isaac's lyrical excellence
in full view: As life gets longer, awful feels softer/ Well it feels pretty
soft to me/ And if it takes shit to make bliss, then I feel pretty blissfully.

An encore break was taken, with Isaac returning to take a seat at the drum
set, with the stage hands on guitar. The rest of the band eventually returning
to play Custom Concern.

Recently debuted Lampshades on Fire was next, with a few members of the crowd
singing along. The bridge, heard 1 minute into the Sasquatch recording, seemed
to have been extended with Isaac jamming a bit.

Just to ensure we wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, Shit Luck exploded
into a barrage of beat downs, once again leaving the crowd moshing and flailing.

Missed the Boat followed with most of the crowd once again backing Brock on
vocals.

Closing out the night was Trailer Trash, with an awesome ending jam. Tom Peloso
took the bass on this one, handling what I consider one of the greatest bass
lines ever conceived, impeccably. Isaac added some lyrics from Perpetual Motion
Machine throughout the jam, ending the show on a high note.

Overall, this was an awesome show. Isaac and company sounded a bit tighter
and cohesive tonight, eliminating the little mistakes of last night. Tomorrow
brings round three with the band... onto Pittsburgh.

Interstate-8.com member, Luke, is fortunate enough to be going to the next few days worth of shows, and has offered to share his tour journal with us.

For the next few days we will be posting his blogs, photos and anything else he may stumble upon.

Here's his first review, from last night's performance at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC. He was also able to speak to Isaac, Tom and their new touring bassist after the show, and get a little bit of vague insight into where Eric may be.

On a side note, Fuze.tv will be live streaming Modest Mouse's set from this Saturday's performance at the Orion Music + More Festival.

Modest Mouse opened its summer tour with the first of a two night, sold out run
at The 930 Club in Washington DC.

Nearly an hour after Talkdemonic finished, Modest Mouse took the stage. The
band lineup was the same as at Frost Revival; still no Eric. Isaac apologized
to the crowd for his "bad habit of coming out so late." The band opened with
Dramamine, performing the extended version, borrowing lyrics from Life Like
Weeds.

They then moved into Paper Thin Walls. Belting "laugh hard it's a long way
to the bank," the crowd launched into a dancing frenzy, with some members moshing.

Next, the recently debuted Heart of Mine was played. Nothing much was changed
from the original heard from Frost Revival, however, Isaac did tame the "bye
bye bye" part down a bit, extending it a few lines as well.

Broke followed, with what I considered one of the best performances of the
night. Isaac's guitar sounded perfect; fluid and airy, with the bass churning
in the back.

Fan favorite Float On followed, with nearly everyone in the club chanting
along.

Next: Tiny Cities Made of Ashes. Tom Peloso played the keys, which added a
genuine feeling of doom to the already apocalyptic track. The bassist held
down the bassline impeccably, with Isaac adding pointed jabs on the guitar.
Isaac's added "hey hey hey's" hit like punches to the gut, his words leading
an assault on the crowd.

A condensed Custom Concern was played, along with Education, with Peloso again
adding his flair to the keys.

Cowboy Dan, another standout of the night, was played with Talkdemonic's Lisa
Molinaro joining on viola. With each chanting of "can't do it, not even if
sober!" the front row was doused in Isaac's spit, flying further back as he
screamed louder.

Isaac was then handed his banjo, tearing into Bukowski, once again spraying
the crowd.

Continuing with the banjo, Dance Hall was played, literally turning the crowd
into a sweaty, dancing mass, screaming along with Brock.

Ending the pre-encore half was Gravity Rides Everything. Isaac played through,
elongating the song by playing the feedback of his acoustic guitar. Towards
the end of the song, Isaac seemed to become angry when a loud piercing noise
shot through his mic. The band left the stage, returning about ten minutes
later after the guitars had been re-tuned.

They opened the encore with another newly introduced song, Ansel. Again, not
much was changed from the Frost Revival performance, however the pump organ
almost sounded like steel drums this time around.

Isaac then brought out the banjo again. He started to play the intro to Satin
In a Coffin but fumbled for a few minutes, eventually asking the crowd if anyone
new how to play the song. Realizing it wasn't properly tuned, he handed the
banjo over to a stage hand. As technicians tuned, the band crawled into an
instrumental jam, heavy on Tom's upright bass. Eventually, the tuning was figured
out and Satin In a Coffin was played, with Isaac utilizing his "static mic."

Dashboard was played, proving once again that studio versions of songs that
I do not like can be played live and leave me dancing and singing along.

Rounding out the night, Fly Trapped in a Jar was performed with the crowd
in full swing; dancing, moshing, screaming. Isaac thanked the crowd for listening
to him talk and "sitting through the bullshit," as he glared at the sound technician.

As I was leaving the venue, a girl next to me was given the set list. I asked
if I could take a peak and she allowed. For the encore, they had listed Heart
Cooks Brain, with "maybe" in parenthesis.

After the show, I waited out back in the alley way, where I could see Isaac
and Tom having a smoke. Eventually, I got Tom to come over and have a cigarette.
We chatted about the band, with me expressing my excitement with the new material.
I asked him about the status of Eric, and he said he was unsure. He told us
he had to get going; his five year old and two month old were waiting in the
hotel.

Isaac eventually made his way over to the few of us remaining. A few offered
him weed, but he explained that he had "it covered." He signed autographs and
took pictures, chatting with us. I was able to ask him about Eric's return
and he replied, "uh, I think he retired."

Another fan asked why they weren't
playing Philadelphia, to which he replied that he thought they were in a few
months, but then corrected himself and explained that they would be added to
the bill for Firefly Festival in Dover, Delaware. He explained that they had
to wait until a certain date before they could officially announce this news.
I asked him about the Heart Cooks Brain encore possibility, and he joked with
me that he had just learned the lyrics after writing the song "18 years ago."
He even said how he had the lyrics up on stage with him, but they had to skip
over it when the banjo trouble started. Eventually, Isaac went back inside,
getting the bassist for one of the fans that new him.

I got to talk with the bassist for a bit, asking him how playing with the
band was going. He said he was extremely excited to be working with them. I
asked if he would be replacing Eric and he said there hadn't been any talk
of that, he was just "given the itinerary for the tour and hopped on the bus."
When asked if he had been recording with the band, he said "nope, there's been
none of that." I thanked him for an awesome show and bid him farewell.

Overall, it was a great show. I loved the opening with Dramamine, it really
got the crowd going from the beginning. The crowd seemed to dig the new songs,
most were bopping around and dancing.I also witnessed one of the coolest things
I've seen at a concert: a mother and father, probably mid 40's, with there
child of no more than 6 or 7 with them. The father was absolutely eating up
every moment of the show, screaming along, dancing, even picking up his son
and dancing with him. The kid had a huge grin on his face the entire show,
vibing with his dad. I couldn't help but think to myself that the kid would
grow up to have one hell of a music taste, being brought up on Modest Mouse
live shows. Tomorrow brings night two in DC, which should follow suit and be
another excellent show.

Luke Ilardo

Thanks to Luke for his review. We're all looking forward to your next one.

I'm not sure what to make of these comments on Eric Judy. It still sounds pretty up in the air, and no definite answer yet. Your thoughts?

Modest Mouse's website has been updated with four new dates dotted around their existing festival dates this coming summer. New shows in Washington, Pittsburgh and Columbus bring the total number of dates to seven.

Another single date seems to have popped up, all by its lonesome in May. The band will be headlining what appears to be a mini-festival of sorts on Stanford University's campus in Palo Alto, CA on May 19.

Tickets on sale April 23rd at tickets.stanford.edu, available online, in the Stanford Ticket Office, and in White Plaza. Student tickets are only $20; save on each ticket with a Stanford student group order of 10 or more. SUIDs required.

The show seems to be set for 3pm and Modest Mouse will be preceded by Benjamin Francis Leftwich and Eyes Lips Eyes.

Today The Shins will be performing at the Google/YouTube SXSW Festival showcase "Live from the Lot" at 5:45 PM C. The show will also be streamed later today on YouTube, approximately one hour after the performance it seems. Check the YouTubePresents page for the start time in your area.

Modest Mouse's set tonight at Festival 72810 in Mexico might be streamed live, thanks to a link discovered by board member goinunion.

The band will be taking the stage at 12:05 am CST. We have contact the festival and hope to get confirmation on the stream and will update you if we hear anything back. The festival has already started though, and the stream is not yet active.

UPDATE: So it doesn't look like this is happening. We should have a set list by tomorrow I hope.

The Governors Ball Music Festival announced their lineup this morning, and the hints they'd been dropping turned out to be true. Modest Mouse will be one of the acts performing on June 24, opening for Beck.

Other acts that day apart from Beck, include: Explosions In The Sky, Cults, and Built To Spill.

Because this festival has the band locked for the Sunday, this means that Modest Mouse will most likely be only performing on Saturday June 23 at the Orion Music + More festival in Atlantic City.

Tickets for this event go on sale tomorrow, February 22, through the festival's website. Watch a video of the announcement below.

It was brought to our attention yesterday, that Isaac performed solo this past Thursday evening at a benefit in Portland, OR entitled "Songs For Joel". The purpose of which was to raise money for Joel Burrows who was seriously injured last year and required funds for a special wheelchair.

The show also included Spoon's Britt Daniel and ex Sleater-Kinney members Corin Tucker and Janet Weiss.

Isaac's five song set included four Modest Mouse songs and a cover of Love As Laughter's "Miss Direction". For the complete set, check out the tour date archive.

Thanks to NovocainHurricane for bringing the show to our attention, and JB for the complete set list.

The Governors Ball Music Festival is taking place on June 23 and 24 at Randall's Island in New York, NY. This is the same weekend that Modest Mouse is confirmed to be performing at Metallica's Orion Music + More festival in nearby Atlantic City.

The Governors Ball will be announcing its full lineup on February 21. Until then, they have started dropping hints on their Facebook page. Including one today of a cartoon mouse being modest, making it look very likely that Modest Mouse will be performing at that festival as well.

If this turns out to be true, it definitely looks like Modest Mouse will only be performing on one day at the Orion Music + More festival. So be careful when buying tickets there, if you weren't planning on going for the whole weekend.

After a change in New Year's Eve plans, we were able to attend "Brockdemonena" last night in Portland, OR.

Isaac joined Talkdemonic on stage for the last three songs of their set. Performing Talkdemonic's Ending The Orange Glow and Revival, then doing the New Year's Eve countdown before ending with a cover of Fleetwood Mac's Dreams.

Bask in the awesomeness that is poor cell phone concert footage below, along with a link to equally poor audio/video from the rest of the set.